Iran to double power exports to Turkey
An Iranian Energy Ministry official says the country will increase electricity exports to neighboring Turkey by twofold in the next two months.
“Iran is currently exporting an average of 190 megawatts (MW) per hour of electricity to Turkey,” Abdolhamid Farzam, Iran Energy Ministry’s official in charge of foreign exchanges said on Wednesday.
He noted that the construction of a new electricity transfer line with a capacity of 230 kilovolts and a new power post has been finished in the northwest of Iran.
The official stated that Iran will have the capacity to increase power exports to Turkey by late May.
“Thel completion and commissioning of new transfer lines will increase Iran’s electricity export capacity [to Turkey] to more than 400 MW per hour,” he added.
Farzam also stated that Iran hit a new record last year by exporting more than 8.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to neighboring countries.
Last year, he said, Iran’s total electricity exports increased by about 30 percent compared to one year before.
On April 2, Iran's deputy energy minister for electricity and energy affairs said the country has diversified electricity exports to neighboring countries and is ready to start exporting nuclear power.
“In addition to electricity produced by thermal, gas-fueled, combined cycle, and hydropower plants, nuclear electricity has been added to the country’s power export basket,” Mohammad Behzad added.
He noted that exporting nuclear power becomes possible as the power generation capacity of Bushehr nuclear power plant increases.
Iran had a total annual electricity generation capacity of 53,000 MW before 2009, which has now exceeded 60,000 MW as a result of the country’s plan to add 5,000 MW of capacity to the grid annually.
The country, which seeks to become a major regional exporter of electricity, has attracted more than USD 1.1 billion in investments to build three new power plants.